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A little over seven years ago, RBI governor D Subbarao said that the central bank’s work was handicapped by unreliability of basic data and frequent revisions. Now, anyone with an interest in India’s economic performance is likely to be as puzzled as RBI staffers following Wednesday’s release of back series of GDP data (2004-05 to 2011-12). This data relates to the series with 2011-12 as base year, first unveiled in January 2015. The belated release of the back series has not only upended understanding of the economy, but also led to politicisation of data.

The back series involves significant changes to methodology and data sets. A highlight is that services sector may not be as important as we thought. Agriculture, mining, manufacturing and construction now account for around 45% of GDP. Yet, the overarching trend in growth since 2005 remains unchanged. Another notable feature is a downward revision of growth rates during UPA era. This has two implications. One, the policy maker’s dilemma: How effective can fiscal and monetary policies be in the backdrop of extreme data unreliability? Two, politicisation of data.

Niti Aayog involved itself in the vetting and release of the back series, an area within the professional domain of the statistics ministry. Also, the back series is incomplete. It goes back to the beginning of UPA governments but no further. It raises the question why belatedly release incomplete back series? India’s statistical divisions are a part of the permanent executive and shouldn’t be caught in a political crossfire. It hurts morale and damages institutional credibility. The challenge in India is data unreliability which is a technical issue and not a political one. The issue must be seriously addressed as decision making in a modern economy is increasingly data dependent.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.